Protip #2 – Where Can We Find You?

Photo – Interestingly, many bands do not wear their own merch on stage. It is seen as some sort of taboo or superstition. Erica from Domino is doing a great job of advertising someone else’s merch!

Each week, Erk comes into contact with many bands looking for airplay on Erk FM, some directly, some via agencies and the like. At the time of this newsletter, Erk has played 866 bands since the start of January 2009 (the start of Erk FM) that he has been able to find websites for. If you add repeat plays for artists as well as artists without websites (it is 2011, people!), the real total is probably closer to 1000 bands. This figure does not include bands that I see live or bands that I see via social media sites such as Twitter & Facebook.

So for Protip #2, I’ll ask the question: “WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU?” – not only is this tip aimed at bands but also agencies and music podcasters.

As you should know, Erk FM is about promoting the music and the artists. During a regular show, I’ll usually feature up to 10 bands in an hour’s show. During that time, I’ll usually (but not always) tell the listener a little bit about your band.

On a related note, Erk FM has a “NO BIO: NO PLAY” policy. If you can’t be bothered to put fingers to keyboard and put a short bio on your website to promote you, why should I promote you? There are plenty of bands out there who are willing to do a lot more than that to get played.

One thing that Erk doesn’t do that some other music podcasters do do (and it is their personal choice to do so, just like it is my personal choice not to do so) is to annouce the name of the band’s website, followed by their Facebook page, their Reverbnation page, their Twitter ID, their M*****e page (Erk hates that site!) and any other site. If the band has a difficult name to pronounce and/or to spell, the podcaster will spell it for you. Again, their choice. I’d rather use that time to play some more music or tell the listeners about you.

While saying that, though, that doesn’t mean that Erk totally ignores your website. Erk links to your best possible website in the show notes. Officially, that is your official site that you control and isn’t a Facebook site, a Reverbnation site etc etc. Why you should have your own site that you control is a story for another tip but your official site should be able to direct people to those different sites should people choose to go there.

On every episode, Erk encourages listeners to go to the show notes and to click on the artist links. Like the average music podcast listener, Erk is not always sitting in front of his computer with keyboard at the ready or pen in hand to write a website address down. If I want to find the band, I will go to the show notes or Google them later.

If you are emailing me as a band member to submit music for Erk FM, it’s great if you have your name in the email signature as well as the name of your band and the band’s website. I should not need to Google you to find you, especially if you have sent me an email.

That might seem a lot but keep in mind that I have several podcasts, a couple of different Twitter accounts & at least one podcast where people might want to leave me voicemail. For a band, you would probably be OK if you used your name, name of your band and the website address for your band.

Train driver by profession but podcasting with passion since 2007, Erk has a range of podcasts including music (Erk FM), talk (Erk Pod, Erk To The Diary Room) and more. He has podcasted in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, North America, Europe, the UK & parts of Asia.

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Channel Erk and all podcasts are licensed under a Creative Commons Share-alike, non-commercial, non-derivative agreement registered in Australia. All music played with direct permission from the artist or under agreement with various music providers and/or music management. Some sound effects from The Free Sound Project, some icons from Iconspedia.